Benin

Not really, when there are a fair few amusement parks around the world with giant screens on their entrances... I wouldn't call this exactly being creative, more going for the complete opposite view of the park in comparison to the chav filled dump it had become... It won't change overnight that is correct, but is sticking a giant TV in front of the entrance building answering any underlying issues with the park? Seems that the priorities of fixing the park up are rather askew...

I didn't notice that the opening times weren't on the front page... Why parks don't do that is beyond me, one of the most pieces of information and most of them hide it... Mergh...

'Story' of X? A light show and loud music does not a story make...

To be fair, the entrance plaza/buildings is easily one of Thorpe's worst attributes... A giant screen isnt really something that will help in particular... Especially as it's not built-in the building but plonked on top... It's all a bit meh... Decent idea (for queuetimes/park info), but once again it's poorly executed...

Merlin style ones are maze-like though, rather than the classic switchback getting closer and closer to the ride itself... It could even have a dreaded hidden one, like on Swarm

Looks ok, if slightly huge and in your face... Clearly someone's been looking at the European park sites, as the majority of them search via height for rides... Glad to see a park catching up to them in that respect... S'ok... Nothing else much to say on it...

When it went backwards, apparently so... There should be no point for it now, especially considering how the lighting system used now lights up the entire building anyways...

I miss Dynamo... And Boneshaker for that matter... Towers does miss some filler thrill rides (and on the other end of the scale, kids things by the thrill rides)...

The park DOES need a high throughput water ride, be it log flume or rapids... There's so much unused space in that park, and would we really be disappointed if they plonked a clone if the Indy dark ride there?

Step 1 to fix the Studios is to remove the Tram Tour, which only helps to limit the park's expansion ability... Then you can properly expand the park to a ridiculous standard, since unless they've sold the land off, they own a shed-load for it... Perhaps further along the line this will happen, meaning a vast level of ride/show additions (I.e. Marvel land, Tron coaster, evening lake show, new version of Muppets 3D) can really push the park to the next level... They just need to bring in some DCA level of refurb to the front end of the park as well, making the areas a bit more enclosed and 'proper', rather than the current mish-mash we have today... Also, I'm not sure how Spiderman fits as a theme for a launched coaster like RnR...

Ironically, it looks no different to some of the other park shops these days...

If there is, let's hope Mack have fixed the way the system works, because it barely did on Blue Fire... Though personally I think that on-board music on outdoor rides is a little bit pointless, as it's often difficult to hear over everything else going on (namely wind)...

More like Candy Holland logic... It's another reason why Zufari has the massive doors...

OMG AQUATRAx!!!!11 The day a second one gets built will be the most glorious day in enthusiast history...

They added some chains on to the side supports (amongst other things I can't remember) to assist with lowering the ride if required... But again, it's probably all Code LPs if it's stopping in the same place...

Why not? Same could be said of last year and Smiler's later opening and the sheer change in attendance before and after it opened... A lot of families will be saving their one trip of the year to go when CBeebies Land opens...

That's cos people are waiting till CBeebies Land to open until visiting... But I'm informed that Amazu was opened completely (when it eventually did) initially, then a few weeks later had all the bits closed... Non-sensical planning is non-sensical... Especially when it's an 'attraction' that doesn't NEED technology... Indeed, the technology it NEEDS is a staircase that isn't inaccesible to children or indeed anyone not 6ft tall... How daft was that design?

I think on the map it shows that Fastrack will be sold for both the Dodgems and the 4D Cinema... So yeah, it's going to be burdenous, but who needs guest satisfaction to make money?

Pick a random B&B on the front, most of them are quite decent... Blackpool is one park not found wanting for cheap local hotels...

Oh also, Lorikeet Lagoon's nectar price has gone up to £2 a pot... Not worth the money anymore... Silly Merlin...

Rodolphe

Well clearly the staffing budget forgot that the weekend was a bank holiday, as the park was horrendously understaffed... 4 people on Vampire in total, 3 trucks on Zufari... Ew... The problem the park needs to address is the awful lack of throughput all over the park... Vampire was running slightly better than recently, but the station queues are now extremely pointless, why not batch about 3 trains in each queue? I'm sure people would prefer doing that a lot more than a long burden outside... The park still has a mixture of awful looking areas mixed in with the nicer repainted parts... Falls is a great example of this, as the ride looks awful but the dragon/station look nice... The park needs to sort lots of stuff out though still... Why Skyway still doesn't have a queuetime board is really strange (given it was advertising a 60 minute queue)... Amazu is hilarious, because most of it is shut already... Great job Chessie! Also I like the walkthrough that only one group can go through at any one time and take as long as they want... Another one step forward, two steps back design from a Merlin park... Days like yesterday show a parks flaws, and for Chessie, that's the throughput... Build new stuff quickly please guys... But make sure it can actually hit 1000 pph...

That tends to be the common position of stopping (for such things as code LPs and the like)... Depends if it was down for ages or just a little bit... One photo can't tell the whole story...

An inversion plus the swinging element wouldn't be a great experience it must be said...

Those Burger Kitchen's are quite simply, vile... As you said, neither restaurant in their previous guises had an immense level of look and feel, they both suited their areas reasonably well... The second one is unbelievably bad... Such a level of bland and uninteresting look you expect from those parks that can't afford to create a true level of escapism, not from a multi-million pound company... Very, very disappointing...